New Delhi: In what could be a major relief for Indian nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen and her family back in Kerala, her death sentence has apparently been cancelled by the authorities of that country.
This was announced in a statement by the office of Indian Grand Mufti Kanthapuram A P Abubakker Musliyar. The Grand Mufti had been meditating in the matter through his friends in Yemen.
“The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended, has been overturned. A high-level meeting held in Sanaa decided to completely cancel the death sentence that was temporarily suspended earlier,” a statement released on X by Musliyar’s office stated.
Nimisha, a 37-year-old trained nurse from Kerala, moved to Yemen for work. In 2015, she entered into a partnership with a local man named Talal Abdo Mahdi to set up a nursing home. This was a legal workaround since foreigners cannot own businesses in Yemen.
As per Nimisha, the professional arrangement soon turned into a nightmare. Mahdi allegedly manipulated a wedding photograph taken during a trip to India to falsely claim he was married to Nimisha and seized control of the nursing home. He then started extorting her monthly earnings.
Nimisha claimed that Mahdi subjected her to repeated abuse, including physical torture and drug-induced assaults. He even confiscated her passport to prevent her from escaping Yemen.
She approached the police and was jailed briefly instead of receiving protection. Finally, she decided to retrieve her passport and other documents from Mahdi and sedated him with the help of a local nurse. Unfortunately, there was an overdose and Mahdi died, following which Nimisha was tried and sentenced to death.
The Indian government made efforts to get her released and extradited, but Yemeni authorities pleaded helplessness, saying that she is being held in an area controlled by the Houthi rebels. Nimisha’s mother also offered to pay ‘blood money’ to Mahdi’s family but her initial efforts failed.
The Indian government made it clear that it could not be a part of paying any ‘blood money’ as it is not legal in India.
Finally, the Grand Mufti intervened and seems to have brokered an agreement between the two sides. It now remains to be seen if Nimisha is actually released and sent back to India. Her husband and daughter had also appealed to Mahdi’s family to pardon her.